Operating mechanism for power-actuated washing-machines.



G. N. MEVES.

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR POWER ACTUATED WASHING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.10,1911.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912 2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

60 r 5 2 9 67 J0 j 0/ ['36 l r B8 7 INVENTOR /0 320/007? 1% e 05%;

G. N. MEVES.

OPERATING MECHANISM FOR POWER AOTUATED WASHING MACHINES.

I APPLIUATION FILED MAR. 10, 1911. 1,022,691., Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

GUSTAV N. MEVES, or DAVENPORT, IOWA.

OPERATING mncnamsn ron POWER-ACTUATED:WASHING-MACHINES.

I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 9, 1912.

Application filed March 10, 1911. Serial No. 613,685.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known, that I, GUSTAV N. MEVES, a

citizen of the United States, and a resident of Davenport, 'in the county of Scott and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Operating Mechanism for Power-Actuated Washing- Machines'; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in motor driven operating mechanism for washing machines and the like of that kind of machines embracing a main operating or stirrer head shaft in the tub for agitating the clothes in the wash water and to which may be imparted a rotary reciprocatory motion, and relates also to mechanism associated therewith for operating a secondary shaft or element, such as the roller shaft of a wringer mounted on orassociated with a washing machine. V

The invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and more particularly pointed out in theappended claims.

In the drawings,Figure 1 is a plan view of a washing machine embodying my improved operating mechanism. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof with parts broken away. Fig. 3 is. a rear elevation of the machine. Fig. 4 is a front elevation thereof with parts broken away. Fig. 5 is a detail of a joint by which the two parts of the operating shaft pitman may be det-achably fastened together. J

As shown in the drawings, the tub 6 is provided with the usual swinging lid 7 that is hinged by the hinges 8 to a fixed or nonrising portion 9 of the tub top. Said tub may be supported on the usual legs 10. Ex tending downwardly througlrthe swinging lid is an operating shaft 17 which carries at its lower end within the tub a stirrer head or dolly 18 (Fig. 4). Said shaft is mounted in a suitable bearing 20 carried by the swinging lid and' the shaft is provided at its upperend above the lid with'a pinion 21 which meshes with aninternally toothed gearsector 22 that is pivoted by a stud 23 to the lidt'o swing horizontally and is provided with an extension 24. Said extension may be socketed at its end to receive a hand operating lever 25 by which th sectorg nay be swung horizontally to impartrotary re ciprocatory motion to the operatin shaft. The hand operating lever 25 may it? nected to the socketed end' ofthe extension 24 by means of a set screw 26. The extension 24 of the sector gear is connected by a pitman 27 with a rotary' worm gear wheel 28 that is rotatively mounted on 'a stud 29' which is fixed to a bracket 30 that. is at tached to the tub at the non-risin side of the top wall thereof, said bracket aving a depending portion which fits about the \up-. per end of the circular wall of the tub "and a shortflange 31 which fits upon the non-. rising'portion of the tub top, as shown Figs. '1 and 3 and is attached thereto'bybolts.

32 designates a motor which is supportedi on a horizontal shelf ofplatform" 32* of the: bracket 30 and is provided with a shaft 33' that is rotatively mounted in bearings 34,

'34 of said bracket. Said motor shaft provided at its. opposite ends beyond-its bearings with worms 35, 36 (Fig 2), The worm 35 meshes with the worm' gear 28, and the proportions of the worm gearwheel '28 and the worm 35 is such as to reduce the high speed of the motor to. a suitably low. speed for driving the rotary reciprocatory operating shaft 17 through the pitman, rocking gear sector 22and pinion 21.

The worm 36 of the motorshaft meshes with a vertically arranged worm wheel 39 that is loosely mounted on a shaft-40 that is: rotatively mounted at one-end in a bearing 40 carried by a hood or guard 41 for the worm wheel 39, which is made'integral with or attached to the bracket 30. Said shaft Bis mounted at its other end in the upright standards 42 of a wringer that is fixed to' the rear side of the-tub in any suitable manner. -Theshaft 40 constitutes a secondary shaft that is driven bythe motor and constitutes, as herein shown, the

'shaftfor one of the wringer rolls 43, 4'4

the shaft of the coacting roll 44 being I geared tothe driven roll shaft by the gears 45- arranged in a familiar manner. The said worm wheel 39. is adapted to ,be clutched to the'shaft 40 to drive the latter through the medium of a clutch sleeve 46. that is slidable and non-rotative on the shaft 40. and has a toothed end adapted to engage the toothed end ofpa complementary clutch member 47 that is fixed to the worm wheel 39. The said clutch sleeve 46 con-I" an inwardly opening socket tolreceive the jointed pitman thus madeare separated by releasing the screw58 and withdrawing the ber 27 fits, the parts being .held together by the key} shown in ,Fig. 1, or otherwise.

nected from the gear sectorextension at the the worm gear wheel.

'leveris provided with a lug 51 adapted to gear 28' with the extension 24' of the oppermit the swinging cover tobe raised. 'The pitman is connected to the gear-sector extension by means'of a pivot stud 59 over which ated by hand "the pit-man is disconnectedntx adapted to be shifted into'engagement with the clutch member 47 of the, wringer by means of a shifter lever 48 that is pivoted to a downturned member 49 of a bracket 50 attached to the wringer frame and extending laterally therefrom. The said shifter engage notches in a lockingseg ment52ion the arm 50 whereby to lock the clutch sleeve in-either 'of its positions. The resiliency of the shifter lever permits the'locking lug to be released from and to'be held in e'ngagementwith the notched-segment.

The pitman .27 that connects; the worm erating sector 22 is providedwith a joint by which the members may be separated in order to-permit the swinging, lid 7 to be swung backwardly. This joint comprises, as herein shown, a socket piece 56,.shown best in Fig. 5, that is loosely connected to thevworm wheel 28 by the stud 57 and has outer end of the inner link member, said lat-. ter link member being fixed in the socket by means of-a' screw '58. 1 The members of the pitman member 27. Obviously other suitable means may be employed for releasably connecting the members of the itman to the apertured end of the inner pitman men.

When the operating shaft 17 is to be actuthe stud 59. When the machine is operated. by power the hand lever25 maybe discon- In the operation of thoperating mechanism described, the motor acts through the worms 35 and 36 at the opposite ends thereof to rotate the worm wheels 28 and 39, the former imparting a swinging motion to thegear sector 22 and therethrough a rotary reciprocatory motion .to the operating shaft- 17. Theworm wheel '39 is rotated continuously inone direction and operates, when the clutch sleeve or spool 46- is engaged with n's clutch. member 4 7 on the hub of said secondaa y operating 5 worm wheel 39, to rotate the shaft 40 and the wringer rolls 43, 44. "Vhenthe clutch" sleeve is in the position shown in Figs. 3 and/4 the 'wringer rollers are inoperative. A collar 46' on the shaft 40 limits the move- .ment of the clutch sleev'e'away from the clutch member .47. By employing a reversible motor the wri ng'er' rolls may be turned in either direction, either while operating the operating shaft 17 or when the operating mechanism is disconnectedpfrom said shaft through the separable operating I pitman 2? described. Thus the wringer and operating shaft may be driven either simul-' taneously .or independently by the motor, and either may be separately actuated by hand The arrangement shown constitutes an exceedingly compact and efiicient driving mechanism: for the operating shaft of a washing machine and the wringer shaft for other like secondary operating shaft, the use "of the worm gears permitting, the high sped'of the motor to reduced to a practicably low. speed for operating the dasher shaft and the wr'i'nger. t In order that the shaft 33 may be operated'when no electrical power is available" to operate the motor 32, or otherwise the ,saidjshaft may be rotated through the me dium ofa crown pulley '65 that is fixed to from a pulleybelt thatmay be operatedby' a gas engine or-like motor, as best shown in i 100 The u ppe r wrmgerroll shaft i's provided Figs. 1 and-.2.-

with a short, detachably afiixed crank 68 in order toi'turn the wringer rolls backwardly to unroll material, as small pieces, thatmay become wound around the rollers. The said crank may be protected; by the casing 69 the shaft 33 which is adapted to be operated 1 that is hinged at 70 to the adjacent wringer standard'42 and may be held inthe upper dotted line position shown in Fig. 4 by I means of the dog 71' shown in Fig. 4. If it. be desired to operate the wringer; by hand, the lower shaft of the wringer roll may be formedwith althreaded end73 to receive a v regulation crankto operate the wring'er by hand. I i

variations within the spirit and scope of the invention, and the'invention iQhiot limited to theillustrated details except as hereina'fter made the subject of specific claims.

I claim as my invention 7 1. Operating'm'echanism for washing machines and the like comprising, in combination with "a body, a primary operating shaft mounted thereon, a pinion on saidshaft, a gear meshing with the pinion, a worm wheel adapted to be connected to the gear, a secondary operating shaft, a worm wheeladapted, to be connec'telgip and operate the a motor and a The construction described is capable of' motor shaft provided with two worms, one meshing with the worm wheel that is operatively connected to the primary operating shaft and the other with the worm wheel of the secondary operating shaft, with means for connecting thesaid worm wheels to the respective shafts which they operate,

and for disconnecting them therefrom, to permit said shafts to be operated either simultaneously or independently.

2. Operating mechanism for washing machines and the like comprising, in combination with a body, an operating shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, a worm wheel operatively connected therewith for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a wringer operating shaft, a worm wheel connected thereto, and a motor provided with a shafthaving two worms, each meshing with one of said worm wheels.

3. Operating mechanism for washing machines and the like comprising, in combina: tion with a body, an operating shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, a worm wheel operatively connected therewith for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion to said shaft, a wringer operating shaft,aworm wheel connected thereto, a motor provided with a shaft having two worms, each meshing with one ofsaid worm wheels, means for disconnecting the operating shaft from its worm wheel, and a hand device for actuating said operating shaft when disconnected from said worm wheel.

4. Operating mechanism for washing machines and the like comprising,-in combination with a body, an operating shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, .a worm wheel operatively connected therewith for imparting rotary reciprocatory motion .to said shaft, a wringer operating shaft, a worm wheel connected thereto, a motor provided with a shaft having two worms, each meshing with one of said worm wheels, and a clutch device for operatively connecting the wringer shaft to and disconnecting it from its worm wheel.

5. Operating mechanism for washing nia- 'chines and the like comprising, in combination with a body, an operating shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, a pinion on said shaft, a swinging gear sector meshing with said pinion, a bracket attached to said body near its top, a motor mounted on said bracket and provided with a shaft having a worm, a worm wheel meshing with said worm and a pitman pivoted eccentrioally to the worm wheel and pivoted to said gear sector. p

6. Operating mechanism for washing machines and the like comprising, in combination with a body, an operating shaft capable of rotary reciprocatory motion, a pinion on saidtshaft, a swinging gear sector meshing with said pinion, a bracket attached to said body near its top, a motor mounted on said bracket and provided with a shaft having a worm, a worm wheel meshing with said worm, a pitman pivoted eccentrioally to the worm wheel and pivoted to said gear sector,

said pitman embracing two separable members adapted to be detachably locked together 'by a joint device and a hand lever detachably connected to the swinging gear sector.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention I afiix my signature in the presence of two witnesses, this 24th day of Feby. A. D. 1911.

GUSTAV N. MEVES.

Witnesses:

HENRY H. GEDENS, HUGoC. Voo'r, 

